1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for fastening the bottom of a drawer to the sides of the drawer, in which projecting strips integral with the drawer sides and running in the direction in which the drawer opens overlap the top side and/or bottom side of the drawer bottom and/or a projecting strip fits into a longitudinal groove made in the edge of the drawer bottom confronting the drawer side.
2. The Prior Art
In the manufacture of drawers extruded pieces of metal or plastic are increasingly used in addition to the classical wood materials. Metal drawer sides can be made, for example, by the extrusion process from aluminum or can be stamped and edged from sheet metal. Plastic drawer sides are, as a rule, extruded and cut to the desired length or also made by the injection molding method from plastic. In such drawer side extrusions, the drawer bottom, which is still made of wood, as a rule, is placed on a projecting strip integral with the drawer side, or is inserted between two projecting strips spaced one over the other to adapt to the thickness of the bottom. For the additional attachment of the bottom to the sides, a so-called "harpoon strip" is often provided, i.e., a fastening strip provided on both faces with parallel anchoring ribs of sawtooth-like cross section, which is forced into a longitudinal groove made in the edge of the drawer bottom facing the drawer side and having a width that is less than the rib thickness measured across the apexes of the sawtooth-shaped ribs. These sawtooth-like anchoring ribs embed themselves, after the drawer-side strips with the bottom are pressed into the side walls of the longitudinal groove, and then offer a high resistance to the withdrawal of the harpoon strip from the longitudinal groove against the direction in which they were forced in. Now, it has been found that in some cases, under certain unfavorable conditions, the fastening of the bottom to the drawer sides can become critical, and it has been observed that, in the case of heavily loaded drawers which are frequently opened and closed with great force, on account of the shocks which develop when the drawer front strikes against the cabinet carcase, the drawer bottom can drift in the drawer-closing direction, even when the drawer side has been joined to the drawer bottom by the said harpoon strips. Such drifting can be prevented by additional measures, e.g., driving screws through holes in one of the projecting strips into the drawer bottom, but this involves additional installation effort, which is undesirable in modern large-series production.
The invention is addressed to the problem of providing a fastening system for joining the bottom of a drawer to the sides thereof, which without requiring additional, complicated measures will reliably prevent any drifting of the drawer bottom relative to the drawer sides even when the drawer is heavily loaded and subjected to shock-like stresses.
This problem is solved according to the invention in that, in the area of the drawer sides facing the adjacent lateral edge of the bottom, at least one anchoring projection is provided which penetrates into the material of the bottom when the drawer is assembled, and which extends over the projecting strips or is offset therefrom. Such an anchoring projection penetrating into the material of the bottom thus constitutes a positive securing of the drawer bottom against displacement in the drawer closing direction.
If the drawer side is fastened by means of a projecting harpoon strip in a groove made on the edge of the drawer bottom, a configuration may be desirable in which the harpoon strip has on its length at least one interruption, in which case a rib-like projection running transversely across the harpoon sections in the area of the interruption projects from the drawer side as an anchoring projection.
The transverse rib-like projection is then best sharpened like a knife-edge on its free edge pointing away from the drawer side, in order to facilitate penetration into the material of the bottom in the assembly procedure, and prevent damage to the drawer bottom.
Alternatively, in at least one interruption of the harpoon strip, a piece flush with the harpoon strip sections can project from the drawer side as an anchoring means which has anchoring teeth projecting beyond the dimension of the greatest thickness of the harpoon strip and penetrating into the material of the groove in the drawer sides when assembled.
These tooth-like anchoring projections can then best have sharpened knife-edges at right angles to the drawer-opening direction and to the flat surfaces of the drawer side which facilitate penetration of the anchoring projections into the groove in the drawer sides.
In further modification of the invention, at least one anchoring projection can protrude from the free edge--then best continuous and uninterrupted--confronting the drawer bottom of the harpoon strip, which upon installation penetrates into the bottom of the groove created in the edge of the drawer bottom and receiving the harpoon strip. Such an anchoring projection then can best be in the form of a pin of circular or polygonal cross section which is sharpened at its free end.
It is advantageous if the anchoring projection or projections are an integral part of the associated drawer side.